Seasons
by panzerkatzen
Summary: A collection of stories featuring Kotetsu and Barnaby going about their daily lives.
1. Impeccable

Hello there. This marks my first composition on FFN on this account. :D

I intended each chapter to stand on its own, and for this to be a little collection of fics about Kotetsu and Barnaby. They're a little pointless and nonsensical and might or might not connect with each other, but I hope you enjoy them. They aren't set anywhere in particular in the series' timeline, but I like to think that they're in this little vacuum of timespace where everyone os just living their daily lives in Sternbild.

With pleasure,

-panzerkatzen

* * *

1 - Impeccable

* * *

Barnaby Brooks Jr, for all his fans and his publicity made him out to be, was not perfect.

His immaculate golden buttery curls were a bright, shining mess in the morning when he got up. He'd make his way to the bathroom in a half-dreaming state, take a good look at himself and wonder how it was that curly haired-men managed to tame their locks in the morning. After having a light breakfast and a quick shower, Barnaby Brooks Jr would set aside some 30 minutes or so (or more, if he'd woken up with a particularly bad case of bed head) with a small collection of hair products to work on his milliom dollar locks.

Kotetsu's only culinary specialty was fried rice, but Barnaby wasn't much better. He could do the basics all right - omelettes, pasta, simple fried food - but with his hectic schedule he rarely had time to practice making more elaborate foods. He would sometimes set one rest day to perfect a recipe or an old time favorite that Ms. Samantha made him as a kid. He'd start the day with a spread of elaborate high quality ingredients and a look of determination. On less fortituous attempts he would sometimes regretfully order Chinese takeout. On better attempts he would sit and watch the Sternbild news channels with a smug look of triumph on his face.

The month that he'd tried making fried rice, he'd gone to several specialty stores to purchase different varieties of rice. He'd messed up the first batch of rice that he'd made. (He'd gotten a Hero alert from Agnes, you see. It had totally slipped his mind.) The next day he immediately bought a multipurpose rice cooker (the kind that you could use for hot pot) and resolved to try better. Then when he tried frying it, it stuck to the pan.

Barnaby Brooks Jr was good at driving, but had a weakness common to many drivers - parking. He would periodically grapple with this enemy when he visited Kotetsu over on the Bronze stage. Why Kotetsu didn't have a garage was perplexing to him. He bought his particular apartment because he could have his car parked by a valet. Any time he could borrow the Apollon Media company car (and driver), he would borrow it.

Barnaby found women (and the occasional man; some men simply made everyone's heads turn. Barnaby Brooks Jr was one such man.) attractive, but had never been able to hold onto one for longer than a year. He couldn't date a fan, he thought it improper. Neither would he think of dating anyone at work. Before becoming a Hero he would sometimes go on blind dates... but somehow he never really managed to find a lot to talk about aside from literature and operas he was familiar with.

Kotetsu and Nathan would sometimes try to give him tips for this, borrowing Karina (or Ivan, when Karina was busy, because Ivan made for a very pretty woman when told to be) for practice. Karina was heard to remark afterwards that for all of Barnaby's good looks, he wasn't a person that would work very well on the market. (Ivan on the other hand, thought Barnaby was just fine, and at one point seemed to even ask Barnaby for any physical preferences he may have had for a date. Nathan thought his enthusiasm charming; Barnaby did not share the same sentiment.)

There was one aspect of life wherein Barnaby was pretty damn close to perfect, and that was in the workplace. All his paperwork was turned in straight on time without a leaf out of place or a signature missing. His reports were detailed but concise, informative but succinct. His interviews to the press were stellar, and every published photo of him put him in a very attractive light. He was always nice and civil to his fans, but held his job and duty as a priority. He even stepped in to help Kotetsu with his paperwork every so often.

For a time however there was one little thing that Barnaby did not have in the workplace, and that was a friend. Barmaby did not envy the Apollon Media staff that would go out drinking in the evening after work, nor did he ever go with them. He was invited once or twice but Barnaby knew that he was being asked out of politeness. Either way, he didn't feel like he would get along with them very well.

When Kotetsu started dragging him to bars, Barnaby would voice out his complaints. He had work the next day, he'd say, and so do you, _ojisan_, but Kotetsu kept at it and soon had Barnaby going to their weekly happy hour with Antonio (and occasionally Nathan when he wasn't too busy running his company). Kotetsu would order beer, sometimes shochu or sake, and Barnaby would order a light beer and sometimes a simple cocktail. Cocktails are for women, Kotetsu would say, and order Barnaby some more powerful drink to try, just once, you'll like it, I promise.

And inevitably at some point in the evening Barnaby would get drunk, because he wasn't very used to this sort of thing and was usually a drinker of white or red wines over dinner. And Kotetsu would usually bring Barnaby home, type in the password for the keypad (which Barmaby did not ever remember giving to him), drag Barnaby into bed and tuck him in. On nights when even Kotetsu was wasted, Barnaby would find him snoring loudly in his one and only armchair.

Barnaby would sigh and head to the bathroom and realize that he would have to fix his hair again for the morning.


	2. Perception

2 - Perception

* * *

"Bunny..."

Barnaby scrolled lower. He had gone through five or six pages of the blog of one of the heroes' fangroups.

"Look at this one, it's got a post about Sky High taking Origami Cyclone for a flight around Sternbild. This one's about Rock Bison getting replaced giant robot.. Hm." Barnaby wondered how Rock Bison felt about this.

"Bunny."

Barnaby opened a new window. This site had a lot of fanart. Most of it was art of the hero suits; there was art of Rock Bison's suit in different colors (including a shade of pink particularly painful to the eyes), detailed art of Origami Cyclone in traditional Japanese styles and a lot of realistic sketches of Blue Rose. Those were particularly impressive; Barnaby thought that whoever drew these should try going professional.

He idly looked through lists of hero-specific fangroups. Unsurprisingly, a lot of them were for him.

"_Bunny._"

"Yes, Kotetsu?"

Kotetsu very audibly spun on his office chair and gave Barnaby a baleful look.

"Could you give me your opinion on this?"

"Send me the link." Barnaby closed a tab that was on a site about Dragon Kid's recommended restaurants.

"I don't want to... it's embarassing." Kotetsu replied, sounding for all the world like a high school girl concealing a love letter.

"Then how do you expect me to see it, exactly?"

Kotetsu looked at Barnaby, then shifted his eyes to his screen. He then looked at Barnaby again, stood up, and gestured to his chair, looking at nobody in particular. Barnaby raised an eyebrow but got up anyway and sat in Kotetsu's chair.

"What is this supposed to be then?" Barnaby adjusted himself in the chair, which wobbled a bit as he sat.

"Just... just look at it. Don't read it out loud."

Kotetsu positioned himself just above Barnaby's shoulder. Barnaby gave him another skeptical look, then turned his attention to the screen.

_Tiger was pushed to the ground, still in his hero suit. The blonde yanked off his own armor and grabbed hold of the older man's helmet._

_"I want to see for myself what the man under the mask looks like.. Now hold still, dammit!"_

_Barnaby lifted Tiger's visor to reveal the veteran hero's face, and reached out to peel the mask from his skin. The leather fell away as the man's beautiful almond-shaped eyes gazed back at the blonde, in a furious red haze._

"My eyes aren't red." Kotetsu complained.

"_That_ is what you have a problem with?"

"Not just that, keep reading." Kotetsu shook his head and jabbed at the screen.

_"How dare you touch me like this!" Tiger growled. "I already have to suffer the indignation of being sidekick to a wet-behind the ears kid, and now I'm being manhandled like this!" He motioned to grab the blonde by the wrist, but Barnaby was too fast and pinned him down to the floor._

_"Please." Barnaby's green eyes grew large. "It's been almost a year since we teamed up. I WANTED to team up with you, I have ever since I first saw you. When Lloyds told that you'd be the sidekick I argued with him for hours but he wouldn't have it any other way. All I wanted was to get close to you, to know you, to see you up close like this..." He leaned forward, his lips-_

"...what in the world is this?" Barnaby stared at the screen, a vein twitching just left of his eye.

"See? You know I'm nowhere near as gruff as that! And there's no way that Bunny could be that cute either."

Barnaby shook his head; of course Kotetsu would be missing the point. (Besides that anyway, Kotetsu was nowhere near as eloquent as the story made him out to be.) He looked to the top of the page and saw that it was a literary blog - one dedicated to heroes. Kotetsu had specifically been looking at a section devoted to the pair.

"This one's about us going to the amusement park. They made me Puerto Rican in this one. That other one has us taking a bath and I've got loads of body hair in that one!" Kotetsu's face took on a pained expression.

"You're really more concerned with how they write you into these, but not with what they're making us do?" Barnaby clicked on a few more links and found some more stories, this time involving the other male heroes. "Good grief, this is downright... We're athletic, yes, but the positions they're describing are..." His brow furrowed, trying to visualize the tangle of limbs.

"Of course I am! I don't want people getting the wrong idea about me. Then again they got the other heroes wrong too. Origami is Italian in that one."

"Origami Cyclone. Ninja hero. Leaps from buildings and uses a big shuriken and nunchaku. Has a detailed oriental themed costume. Speaks like a ninja with the appropriate verbal tics. _Italian..._" Barnaby estimated that Ivan Karelin was probably Russian or from one of the countries in Northern Europe at the very least. A Russian ninja was already fairly difficult to conceive but an Italian one was downright ridiculous. "Out of curiosity, are there any that paint him as Japanese?"

Kotetsu scratched his head. "Just a couple. They're not rated very high. The idea is that someone that ninja-themed can't be Japanese."

"You know, the reason why they get all of the racial details wrong is because most of you keep your identities secret, right?" Barnaby sighed and scrolled down to see more. "But you have no problem with this sort of thing."

He pointed to a story that, according to the author, involved the two of them committing an act that would "_test the boundaries of friendship_".

Kotetsu shrugged and gave him a halfhearted grin. "I think that it's not really a bad thing? It does give me the creeps thinking about doing that sorta thing myself, but if they're writing stuff like that about us it's because we're popular, I guess?"

Barnaby leaned back in the office chair and stared at the ceiling like he was trying to bore a hole in it.

"Oh, but there's a lot of stories that's mostly about one of us and a main character that sounds a lot like the writer wrote herself in. Those aren't too bad." Kotetsu brought one up on the screen. "I kinda like this one, even though I'm Indian in this one, but it makes me out to be a pretty nice guy."

Barnaby scanned through the story and found that it wasn't so bad, except for the part where Tiger turns out to be a sheikh from another country and that there were actually several other Indians with Hundred Power that would cover for him when he was away dating the protagonist.

"Out of curiosity, are there any that make _you_ out to be Japanese?"

"Haven't found one yet." Kotetsu sat on his desk. "But from what I've seen, the popular theory is that I'm Spanish, or Latin."

"But if you were you'd be called El Tigre, right?" Barnaby browsed the list of stories and sure enough found a series called _El Tigre Saves The Day_, written in the style of a childrens' storybook. These were actually pretty charming and had links to the art site that he had been browsing earlier. Barnaby opened up the link to find some stunning watercolor art of El Tigre, presented in a picture book format.

"Hey! Is that supposed to be me?" Kotetsu leaned in real close, his head just over his partner's shoulder, with a blonde curl or two in his face. "That looks really nice!"

"That's not you, that's El Tigre." Barnaby glanced at him. Kotetsu was positively glowing. Not the glowing he did when his Hundred Power was on, but he was glowing nevertheless. He looked through the pictures and found one with himself included. His curls were painted wildly, giving him a striking look. It was very different from most of his fanart. "But I have to agree, it does look very nice."

"Not bad, huh? Having fans." Kotetsu smiled, leaning on Barnaby's shoulder now. "Turn the page, Bunny, I wanna see more."

Barnaby obliged. It wasn't bad at all.

* * *

The idea was that Agnes told the two to go do some market research and see what the fans thought of them. So off they went to read the fanfiction that's written by the fans within the Tiger and Bunny universe...

(I tried avoiding the smut that I like so very much, but I had to throw a bit in to be realistic.)

Any resemblance of the stuff I mentioned to actual fics s entirely coincidental and should there really be anything like El Tigre, message me so I can see!

- panzerkatzen


	3. Simulation

The idea for this one is that Kotetsu signs Barnaby up for a Facebook game.

-panzerkatzen

* * *

3 - Simulation

* * *

"I refuse to sign up for anything that functions as a waste of time."

"C'mon, Bunny-chan, I need more heroes in my league! Otherwise I can't take the Legend tier missions and I won't be able to get the limited time only Mr. Legend gear!"

Barnaby shifted slightly in his office chair and adjusted his glasses.

"You sound like a little kid, you know that?"

Kotetsu snorted. "Only when it comes to stuff I really, really, REALLY like!"

"I have a notable interest in classical opera and I don't get all giddy like you when a new show opens in Sternbild."

Kotetsu muttered something about bunnies and interests and old people under his breath. "You don't even have to play, Bunny! Just sign up with the message I sent you and then you can block all the notifications for all I care."

"Get someone else to do it." Barnaby kept his eyes on his monitor and looked through some documents regarding last month's hero activities. He'd gone into action about seven times last month and captured three out of the seven criminals they had been after, which would mean that his endorsement fee for the month would come out to-

"But Origami and Sky High and Blue Rose and Pao Lin and Antonio and Nathan are already playing and in my league. I can't ask Agnes or anybody else here to sign up either." Kotetsu glanced at Lloyds' secretary for a moment before giving Barnaby a mournful look.

"How you got everybody to sign up is actually kind of amazing." Barnaby made some calculations and entered the amount in a different document.

"Ah, that was kinda easy. Ivan was already playing and he'd gotten Pao Lin to play, but couldn't get Blue Rose to sign up. So he told me to ask her and I did and she said no but she signed up the next day. Then we convinced Sky High to play and when he signed up, Nathan and Antonio-"

"I get it, I get it." Barnaby was getting slightly irritated. "Shouldn't you have work to do?"

"I finished up an hour ago. You and the kids get stuff done so fast that I don't have a lot of time to wre- I mean, get into action a lot."

Kotetsu sometimes referred to the younger heroes as his kids. It was actually kind of heartwarming. Pao Lin would occasionally ask Kotetsu to accompany her shopping ("My parents are coming over to see me next week, so I wanna look cute for them. Could you come shopping with me? And can Kaede-chan come too, aru?"). Ivan and Kotetsu got together at least once a month to watch some old hero films and the odd anime, where Ivan would ask Kotetsu about things like ninjas and samurai. Karina did not participate in any bonding activity with Kotetsu but she would invite him and Kaede periodically to her fanmeet events, and an autographed copy of her latest single always found its way to Kotetsu's desk with a note to enjoy it, even though this isn't really for you or anything so give it to Kaede-chan afterwards.

Barnaby stared at him for a moment.

"What's with the look?" Kotetsu pouted. "I get work done too, you know!"

"..okay, okay. Sorry if I offended you." Barnaby looked over his work, saved it, then sent the file over to Lloyds' secretary. He checked the time. "If you really insist, I'll sign up for you, okay? But you have to be the one to do it since I don't know how."

"Yosh! Thanks a lot, Bunny!" Kotetsu leaned over the space between their cubicles and made a grab for Barnaby's computer.

"Hey! Come and walk over here like a grown man." Barnaby smacked him lightly on the shoulder and pushed him away.

"What kind of hero power do you want? I can answer this quiz to get you the result you want." Kotetsu asked, while setting up the game on Barnaby's social account.

Barnaby briefly wondered why a quiz was necessary for setting up a social game profile. "Pick anything you want, I won't be playing it anyway."

Barnaby sat at Kotetsu's desk, while Kotetsu sat at his. The older hero's desk was messier than Barnaby's by a measure, but had some Mr. Legend memorabilia, some merchandise from back when Kotetsu was still at Top Mag, and a photo of Kotetsu with his wife and daughter. Barnaby made a mental note to put up a family picture on his own desk; he hadn't made much effort to personalize his own workspace despite being at Apollon Media for a few years now, and all he had at his desk was a King Of Heroes trophy and some recent photos from a magazine shoot.

"Eh, would it hurt to be a good sport every once in a while? Even Blue Rose took the quiz." Kotetsu whined. The man was exceptionally good at whining, and it took a person of a certain caliber not to give in.

"Fine." Barnaby grumbled. "Dictate the questions for me. Any answer will do, right? Or is this a multiple choice quiz?"

"I'll just match your answer to the closest one. There's lots anyway." Kotetsu looked at him eagerly.

"Go on." Barnaby leaned back into Kotetsu's creaky chair.

Kotetsu read out the first question. "What's your favorite color?"

"Really? They lead with THAT?"

"Don't look at me, I didn't make this quiz!"

Barnaby took in a deep breath. "Red."

"What's your favorite animal?"

"Anything but a rabbit."

Kotetsu considered picking rabbit for a moment, but entered cat instead.

"Next one. You have to pick between saving a kid trapped in a burning building or doing first aid to his mom who is having a heart attack."

"What kind of a question is that?!"

"Just pick!" Kotetsu groaned.

Barnaby answered several more odd questions, with Kotetsu occasionally picking an answer for him. Eventually, the older hero plugged in the last answer.

"Sense of style is practical. Aaannd... Your character is an ice powered Next."

"What?" Barnaby leaned over. "How did I get something like that? That test is inaccurate."

Kotetsu laughed. "It's not supposed to be perfect, Bunny, it's a quiz for fun."

"I am not Blue Rose. Is there an option for retaking it? I shouldn't have let you pick my answers.." Barnaby got up and went to his desk.

"Yeah, there is." Kotetsu found the retake option and selected it.

"What Next powers can you get in this thing anyway?" Barnaby asked as he picked red, dog, kid in the burning building...

"All the hero powers in our current roster, which means Hundred Power is in there, and other cool powers like super speed, communicating with animals, magnetism..." Kotetsu sat straight in Barnaby's still-like-brand-new office chair. "My character has gravity powers."

Barnaby's second result was fire powers. Still dissatisfied, he kept going and got Hundred Power after several more tries.

"Finally." Barnaby had a triumphant expression.

"Glad to see you're enjoying this." Kotetsu had a big grin on his face.

"Tch. Are we done yet?" Barnaby straightened up and stretched.

"Nope. You still need to do the tutorial mission before your character can get into a league." Kotetsu continued, as a character customization screen popped up. "You want to skip this?"

Barnaby looked at his character. "That looks terrible. That's spandex!"

"Oi, spandex isn't so bad! Anyway that's the attire everyone starts with but you can pick from other options once you've played a bit already."

"That's..." Barnaby frowned. "Let's get started on the tutorial then."

Barnaby insisted that he do the tutorial himself, and after fumbling a few times he managed to clear it, and Kotetsu walked him through joining his league.

"Yosh! Thanks a lot, Barnaby! Now I can go get the Mr. Legend gear!" Kotetsu gave Barnaby an affectionate pat on the back and returned to his desk.

"Wait. My hero attire is available in the item shop but it seems to use a different currency." Barnaby scanned through the clothing items and pointed to a set of items that looked exactly like his hero suit. "Is Apollon aware of this...?"

"Oh, you have to pay for that one. If you're feeling up to it though you can play through a couple of levels for a chance to get them for free. And Origami's sponsor company owns that game, so I think they've got the copyright thing down pat."

"But my character doesn't have enough energy for the higher levels." Barnaby looked concerned.

"You have to do lower level stuff to get your character to level up first, and when you level up enough your energy cap will go up and you'll be able to do the higher levels."

Barnaby looked at the screen for a moment, lost in thought.

"It might take you about half a week or so." Kotetsu added helpfully. "But that's if you're serious about this."

* * *

"Tell me how to get the Mr. Legend gear." Barnaby was talking with Kotetsu over lunch the following day, monitoring his character's energy levels on his mobile phone.

"You'll need a lot of league members first, then you have to clear the set of missions for the gear." Kotetsu replied in between chews.

"How many is a lot?" Barnaby finished his salad and got started on his medallion steak and potatoes.

"About 30... You're really serious about this, aren't you?"

"The Legend gear grants you increased energy regeneration. If I want to get my hero gear I'll need all the help I can get." Barnaby looked down at his plate. "Maybe I should ask my fans to help."

"That's not fair." Kotetsu pointed his fork at him. Barnaby had millions of fans. "Besides, you'll have to add them on your social account, and that sounds like more trouble than it's worth."

"You have a point." Barnaby scowled, attacking his steak. Does Kaede play this game too?"

"How else do you think I got 30 people to sign up?" Kotetsu gave him a grin, then proceeded to demolish his sandwich.

* * *

"Bunny, have you finished that report yet?" Kotetsu had an armful of papers and was about to go deliver them to Lloyds' secretary.

"Yes, it's in my out tray." Barnaby had several spreadsheets open on his computer and was comparing them. The out tray on his desk had a considerable amount of paperwork in it and Kotetsu struggled a bit to stack them on top of the papers he was holding. "What are you looking at, by the way?"

"I'm trying to see what the optimum course of action is for depleting my energy. This one nets me 500 or so experience points but more event points for the hero suit, but this one nets more experience points and less event points, but will help me level up faster. This table shows what the consumption looks like with the full Legend gear..."

"Holy crap, Bunny, you're serious about this!" Kotetsu went to dump all the paperwork on Lloyds' secretary's desk.

"If I'm going to do something, I'm going to do it properly." Barnaby looked determined.

Kotetsu laughed. "There's an event coming up in about a week or so. You have to beat Lunatic to get his gear, which ups your combat ability."

"That sounds like it's worth checking out." Barnaby opened the game on his social account and started looking at the details of the new event.

"It's good to see you having fun every now and then." Kotetsu sat at his desk and gave him an affectionate grin.

"It's only until I get my hero suit." Barnaby frowned slightly. His luck on the draws was horrible. He already had Rock Bison's and Sky High's full gear completely by accident and had finished Legend's gear two days ago and only had one arm of his own hero suit.

"Yes, yes." Kotetsu chuckled, leaning back into his creaky office chair.


	4. Candid

4 - Candid

* * *

Take photos, she said. Of Barnaby in his private time, she said.

Kaburagi T. Kotetsu looked through the gallery of photos he had taken on his mobile phone. Agnes had told him that lugging around a digital camera might have been too conspicuous so Kotetsu had resorted to using his phone. Phones nowadays had pretty good cameras anyway.

He'd tried to say no but Agnes was having none of it. She'd had all the bases covered, it was perfectly legal, there were clauses in Barnaby's contract that allowed for this sort of thing (and in Kotetsu's too, so he had to be on his best behavior lest she hire someone to tail him).

"No bathing or nude photos or anything. The fans want to see what their number one hero is up to when he's not being interviewed or on camera. You can take pictures of his stuff too; the female fans have taken a recent interest in what brands the heroes themselves use." Agnes had given him a look so sharp it could have cut him in half. "You'll submit the photos to me after a week or so and we'll publish the choicest ones in the next issue of Heroes Monthly. Are we clear on this?"

Kotetsu had sighed, scratched his head and wrung his neck, sighed again and nodded begrudgingly.

Now he sat on a very nice velvet sofa just outside Agnes' office looking at a very personal, but somewhat tasteful selection of photos from Barnaby's life.

* * *

The first photo was fairly simple. It was of Barnaby's red boots. Barnaby had just taken them off to change into their undersuits. One boot stood slightly bent, the laces undone neatly with one of the straps refastened, while the other had fallen over to one side and was splayed onto the floor.

Kotetsu was not a man for boots (except where they were required, like his old hero suit), preferring leather shoes or sandals and the occasional loafer. But Barnaby's leather boots were exquisite. They were sturdy but very well maitained, with very few scuff marks on them. It was clear to him that Barnaby had them shined regularly, and he could see some remnants of a leather treatment product in the little creases of the boots. He was not sure if this was Barnaby's only pair of boots (he was vaguely aware of the man owning at least two different pairs of shoes, being dress shoes and trainers) but if they were, they were extremely well-maintained.

Kotetsu himself owned several pairs of his black and cream shoes. They were from a little shop over in the west end of the Bronze Stage, and they were tailor made for his feet, which had a bit of an arch that made it uncomfortable to wear some shoes that didn't have a rubber sole. He did make sure to clean them at least once a month and brought them back to the shop when they were in need of a little bit more love. Kotetsu typically did not spend a great deal on clothing, but he made sure that his everyday wear were of very good quality that would not wear out very quickly, and he judged that Barnaby would do the same.

* * *

The next two photos were of Barnaby in Kotetsu's kitchen. Barnaby had given up attempting to make chahan using only online recipes and tutorials, and had asked Kotetsu to give him a crash course in cooking the dish. Kotetsu had lent him his only spare apron, a lavender one with little white flowers that Kaede used when she was staying with Kotetsu in Sternbild. Surrounding the young hero were an assortment of ingredients that Kotetsu had felt completely unnecessary like cumin and white pepper, as well as ingredients that Kotetsu felt were an absolute must like baby shrimps and soy sauce.

In the first photo, Barnaby was finalizing the ingredients that he would use, and in the second he was stir frying the rice in Kotetsu's large skillet. In both photos he had a look of consternation typically reserved for such problems that involved hero business and Ouroboros. Kotetsu had told him to lighten up as chahan really wasn't that difficult to cook, and that there were no particular rules to chahan, only that it tasted good to you once cooked, but Barnaby had insisted on a particular recipe that he had been particularly attached to and was using both shrimp and shredded chicken in this attempt. Kotetsu had managed to talk him into throwing in some green peas for color, and these could be seen very plainly in the second photo.

Prior to the culinary exercise, they had just been to the supermarket to pick the ingredients up (Kotetsu had taken one photo there; it appeared later on in the group of photos. It was of Barnaby comparing brands of soy sauce.) and while Barnaby had a shopping list ready on his phone, Kotetsu had simply started plucking ingredients from the shelves out of habit. Barnaby would complain whenever Kotetsu grabbed something that he did not approve of, and Kotetsu would complain about Barnaby picking up an expensive variant of an ingredient that had a cheaper version of good quality.

Right after Barnaby had finished making his chahan (Barnaby had neglected to season the chicken prior to stir frying it, making it taste very bland compared to the shrimp), Kotetsu gave his skillet a whirl, making a lovely gold chahan with shrimp, mushrooms, three brown eggs, green peas and an assortment of ingredients he'd just found in his cupboards. He'd used Japanese rice, while Barnaby had used a long grain rice that was mostly used in Indonesian cuisine. Barnaby had taken a big bite of Kotetsu's rice, and Kotetsu could not quite dispel the memory of the blonde's annoyed yet impressed look while chewing.

Kotetsu had given Barnaby a well-earned pat on the back, a can of some good European beer, and a suggestion for a future appointment involving pasta at Barnaby's.

* * *

One photo that Kotetsu was sure would garner attention was a photo of Barnaby sitting casually in the locker room with nothing but his undersuit on. The young man cut quite a striking figure in the suit, which defined his shoulder blades and neck in a way that made his leather jacket simply did no justice to. His waist was tiny for a man's, and Kotetsu sometimes found himself gawking and wondering how pretty his partner would have been had he been a woman instead. He was slightly sweaty from action and some of the curls near his face were damp, sticking to his temples and forehead. It had always puzzled Kotetsu how Barnaby managed his hair when he had to put a helmet on as part of his job, and it slightly amused him to see them bounce just after he took it off.

The first month that they had started working together, Kotetsu had noticed that Barnaby's legs were well defined, and a little bit shorter than his. He wasn't very surprised, with all the kicking and leaping Barnaby did in action, but they were very masculine looking legs, lean, but masculine. His shoulders were broad but very shapely, and gave him an excellent frame with which to wear jackets.

In Kotetsu's opinion, Barnaby's best features were his collarbones. They made him look thinner than he actually was, and though Kotetsu would never admit it out loud, they made him look damn good in a low cut shirt. He'd casually mentioned low cut shirts and Barnaby in the presence of the girls (Karina, Pao Lin, Nathan) one time and had elicited about 15 minutes worth of womanly remarks (even from Pao Lin!) about how good Barnaby would look in a V-neck. Kotetsu made a mental note to buy him a few shirts just to see how they'd look on him, and to take some photos to show the girls afterwards.

* * *

A photo that Kotetsu had taken out of sheer amazement was that of Barnaby's bathroom counter. It had an inordinate amount of bottles for hair care, skin care and moisturizing, facial treatments, outright makeup... All lined up in the order that Barnaby used them every morning.

Kotetsu knew that they were in order because he had woken up from a drunken eve's slumber in Barnaby's only chair to find that the young man had already taken a quick shower and was applying hair products to his curls in a methodical fashion. How Barnaby managed to find the time was astounding. Kotetsu's own morning regimen was shower (and brush his teeth, while in the shower), shave, aftershave, give his hair a good shakedown with a towel, make sure his hair didn't look like an absolute mess (occasionally applying hairgel on unruly days), and get going. That would take him maybe half an hour tops. Barnaby's morning maintenance looked like it would take an hour _minimum._

One product Kotetsu noticed on the table was cologne. Kotetsu used cologne every day, his preference being a brand that Tomoe had gotten him ages ago. Barnaby's cologne was from a different brand, but cost roughly the same. On a trip to the bathroom Kotetsu had examined the bottle and spritzed a bit of the product onto his wrist. It smelled like a light, cool musk for the rest of the day, which would normally not have bothered him if not for Nathan noticing and getting a completely wrong idea, and giving him little winks throughout the day.

* * *

Kotetsu was hesitant about the last photo. It was a photo of Barnaby from behind. Barnaby was facing the huge window that made up the outer wall of his apartment, his figure dark against the lights of Sternbild in the evening. He was holding the robot toy that his parents had given him, and was examining it.

After discreetly taking the shot, Kotetsu had taken a peek at his partner's face to find Barnaby with a distant expression.

"They... they always feel so far away." Barnaby said, when he noticed that Kotetsu had put a hand on his shoulder.

"They do, don't they." Kotetsu absentmindedly touched his wedding ring. "But they don't really ever leave."

"You're lucky. You got to spend time with her. And you have Kaede."

"And a lifetime of making it up to her. It's not easy being a dad." Kotetsu spun around and looked out the window. "It's a gazillon times harder than being a hero. But it's worth every minute of it."

"Being a dad, or being a hero?" Barnaby looked up at him.

"Both." Kotetsu turned to face him. "The difference is that heroes come and go, but all a kid's got is his parents."

Barnaby looked from his toy to the picture of his family on the table.

"Sometimes I don't know how I managed, even with Maverick looking after me. Samantha was someone I could talk to, but there were things that I couldn't share even with her. There were nights that I was angry, nights where I was so frustrated that I couldn't even see straight.."

"..nights when everything goes to pieces, you ask if you're doing the right thing, and if what you're doing really matters. If it should."

Barnaby sat down on his chair, still holding the toy in his hands.

"You never stop missing them."

"Not a day goes by when I don't."

For a moment there was silence between the two. Barnaby watched the older man slowly circle the room, while Kotetsu stared off into the night, watching Sternbild breathe.

"Bunny... got any beer?" Kotetsu asked, after what seemed like an eternity.

"No." The blonde stood up. "But I've got some champagne I've been meaning to try."

* * *

"What do you mean the photos are gone?!" Agnes groaned.

"I told you, I dropped my phone into a fountain by accident! If it was anybody's fault it was Barnaby's, a small pack of his fangirls ran by and-"

Agnes took a deep breath and massaged her temples.

"Thinking about it, I shouldn't have trusted you to do something like this. Fine. Expect a camera crew to start following you around around next week."

Kotetsu wheezed as he left her office. He took his phone out of his pocket, still deciding whether to keep the pictures or not. He didn't really feel that he needed them or anything; he saw Barnaby practically every day, and he didn't think that he needed to keep a memento of the little stuff that went on between them. Memories alone were heavy enough.

He took off his wedding ring, and looked at it in the palm of his hand.

"He'll hate me for this for a good week, won't he?"

* * *

Barnaby didn't speak to Kotetsu for a good thirty minutes after seeing all of the photos, even after Kotetsu told him that Agnes had told him to do it and he'd made up an excuse so he wouldn't have to turn them in.

When he did, it was to tell him that he was a horrible photographer, and to ask him if he wanted to have any more of that champagne we had the other night.

Kotetsu replied that he could show Barnaby a good wine cellar where they could shop for better, and that if Barnaby wanted they could go there tomorrow after work.

Barnaby agreed, but on the condition that it was Kotetsu's turn to cook, and no chahan this time.


	5. Preference

5 - Preference

* * *

Kotetsu sat behind the soundproofed glass. Inside the recording room, his partner was doing a radio show for Radio Sternbild's Hero Hour program. It was much different from a few years back when he had been the one attending interviews as the talk of the town. He watched bemusedly as Barnaby went through the motions of the interview.

"What was it like, growing up in Sternbild?" asked the young man, some redhead upstart whose name Kotetsu had forgotten.

"It was tough. I was lucky to have people that supported me every step of the way, but I think I speak for everyone in Sternbild when I say that it's a challenging experience. You really do grow up here." Barnaby seemed to be reciting from memory, but this really was his usual way of answerng interviews.

Kotetsu did the math in his head. When Barnaby had been a teenager, Kotetsu was already in the hero business. He wondered idly if they had crossed paths.

"Are there any heroes you particularly look up to? Aside from your partner, of course! We all know how close the two of you are."

Barnaby chuckled. "I admire the heroes I work with. We're cordial to each other but fiercely competetive out in the field, and they keep me motivated to improve."

Kotetsu had shown Barnaby his Mr. Legend video collection once. Barnaby had been quick to point out that a lot of the cases Legend had handled had been manipulated to make the heroes look good. "I did research on a lot of these cases. It wasn't pretty."

"But you must have a hero you really do admire." Kotetsu had tried to ask.

"The only heroes I admire are my parents. They died believing in something." Barnaby had replied, looking over some old magazines.

"Oh, but I hear you have a soft spot for a certain idol sensation, hm?" teased the DJ.

"Blue Rose? I have to say I'm amazed by her work. It takes dedication to balance being a hero and having a career in the music industry." Barnaby smiled.

Kotetsu laughed from behind the soundproof. Barnaby hated pop music and promptly changed the station whenever he heard a Blue Rose song on the radio. "It's a marketing ploy. Merchandising." he'd grumble. "They'd make us do that too, if we could sing at all. Remember that one collaboration we did? Terrible." But whenever Kotetsu would bring him to the jazz bar where Karina would perform occasionally, he'd sit quietly and listen, and would sometimes tip if she did a really good job.

"She has talent. If she ever wants to quit being a hero, for whatever reason, she'll go a long way." Barnaby told him, while sipping a martini.

"What about you then? If you had to quit, what kind of job would you look for?" Kotetsu asked him, setting down a glass of shochu and enjoying the notes of Karina's piano playing.

"I'd probably study again. Maybe become a lawyer." Barnaby mused. "Nothing's set in stone. But I wanted to be a researcher like my parents at some point, when I was little."

"Did you always want to become a hero?" asked the DJ.

"Yes. I worked hard to get into Hero Academy, and although I'm lucky to have gotten a little more help than most, I can proudly say that I'm living my dream of devoting my life to the people of Sternbild."

"Bullshit." Kotetsu snickered. Barnaby only became a hero because it meant he'd be the first to get his hands on Ouroboros. Most people that wanted to be heroes didn't know how much they were in for; fighting crime and saving lives were only 5% of the job. The rest of it was paperwork, endorsements, photo shoots and interviews, like this one. They usually got called on to do hero duty about once or twice a week, and not always to chase criminals, but more often to appear at media events or to promote something.

Kotetsu had learned this the hard way when he had started out, and was amazed at how fast Barnaby had adapted to the business. He remembered the early years when he was always itching to put on the suit and beat the crap out of anyone terrorizing Sternbild, rushing paperwork while at his desk and entertaining sponsors with stories of adventure and heroism. Those were the days.

"We've all asked you this question thousands of times, but what's it like working with Wild Tiger? He's past his prime now, but back when he was a rookie, he was a lot like you, breaking records left and right! He broke more than just records, though!" the DJ laughed.

Kotetsu harrumphed.

"Tiger does have an impressive track record. As for working with him, he's an excellent mentor, though it was hard for us to get along at first since we saw things in a different light. He helped me ease out of the rookie mindset really quickly, and I have difficulty imagining what it would be like if I hadn't started out with a partner like him." Barnaby replied smoothly. He wasn't being entirely honest, of course, but you could tell that he'd had trouble wording his reply properly.

"You would have been fine, Bunny." Kotesu smiled, tipping his hat a bit. Their first month as partners had been awful. He had gotten less work done, Kaede had talked about nothing else, and even though they'd both just started at Apollon it seemed like it was Barnaby that had been in the hero business for ten years, not him.

He noticed Barnaby looking at him through the glass. He waved, and Barnaby waved back.

"Really, he's done an awesome job over the past decade or so. I've only been here for a fraction of the time. We really should be giving him more credit." Barnaby laughed a bit.

"Is that so? We should have you both on the show sometime! It'd be a real pleasure to have Apollon's finest here on Radio Sternbild!" the redhead DJ reached for a tablet console and fiddled with it for a bit. "And now we come to everybody's favorite segment of the show, where you fans can call in and ask the heroes your very own questions! Just dial..."

Barnaby fidgeted slightly. Kotetsu thought he looked silly, then thought of something sillier, and picked up his phone.

"Our first caller is Maddie from the Bronze stage! Maddie, what is your question?"

"_Barnaby I LOVE YOU! Anyway my question is how do you get curls like that? Are they natural?_"

Typical women, asking about hair. "They are natural. My mom had curly blonde hair, although she kept it a bit shorter than mine. It's a bit difficult to manage in the morning but other than that, I don't pay much attention to them." Barnaby replied.

"Thanks, Maddie! Now for our next caller... Cheryl, from the Gold stage!"

Cheryl was a more mature lady, probably in her thirties, and asked Barnaby about his preferences in clothing.

Kotetsu's phone ran through the Radio Sternbild automated responses. Eventually a human being picked up and asked for his name, right about when Lauren from Gold stage was asking Barnaby about restaurants he frequented. (Barnaby very predictably gave her the restaurants he endorsed, and metioned a few that Nathan owned.)

"Wild Tiger here." he told the operator.

"No, really?" she replied.

"Yep. I'm actually here in the recording studio."

The operator seemed skeptical, but she quickly consulted some coworkers. Momentarily, a Radio Sternbild employee poked his head into the recording studio and saw Kotetsu on the phone. Kotetsu waved at him. His head promptly disappeared, and the operator came back on.

"Wow. You're really calling Hero Hour to ask Barnaby questions?"

"I thought it might make for a good laugh." Kotetsu replied, half chuckling and slightly nervous.

"It would, wouldn't it? You're last in line, so make it a good one." the operator laughed. "I'm gonna put you on hold for a bit. Not like you'll miss anything though."

At this point Barnaby had noticed something going on and was giving his partner a suspicious look.

"Our next caller is Trish from Silver stage. Trish!"

"_Hi Barnaby!_" Trish sounded very young. "_I wanted to ask why Mr. Tiger calls you Bunny._"

The DJ laughed. "That is a very good question, Trish!"

Barnaby shrugged. "You should ask Wild Tiger, not me! But if I recall correctly, it has something to do with the helmet of my hero suit. The sides remind him of bunny ears."

"_That's cool! Thank you Mr. Bunny._"

"Isn't that precious? And our last caller for today is Wild Tiger, from.. wait, really?!"

"Yep, it's me. Hi everyone, how's it going?" Kotetsu replied casually.

Barnaby shot him a death glare. Kotetsu made the younger hero's signature little salute in reply.

The DJ checked his console, did a double take and looked very surprised.

"Whoa boy, ladies and gentlemen, Wild Tiger is in the house!" he played some sound effects for good measure. "The one and only veteran hero and partner of our guest hero of the hour!"

"If Trish is still listening, yes it's because of his helmet. And he hops around like a little bunny too when he's not on his bike. If you've ever seen him chase people around Sternbild, you'd know." Kotetsu continued, making no effort at whatsoever to disguise his cheshire grin.

"Fascinating! We're almost out of time so Tiger, what is your question?"

"Bunny, how do like your pizza?"

Barnaby seemed startled by the question. "What do you mean, how do I.. oh fine. I like mine with a tomato base, the pure cheese ones are a bit heady for me. Pancetta is a nice topping. Mushrooms too." He seemed thoughtful.

"Okay. Is chicken okay for you? Lunch is on me later since you're being such a good sport." Kotetsu looked him straight in the eye.

"I'll bet you'll order it with mayo. You'll ruin the pancetta." Barnaby frowned.

"We'll get a half-and-half then." Kotetsu smiled. He preferred this Barnaby, the one that liked to throw jabs at him, not the porcelain Barnaby that they put on display for his adoring public.

"Sounds good." Barnaby gave him a small grin. His eyes were smoldering and Kotetsu knew that he was in for it later.

"And there you have it, what a friendly combination these two make! Man, now I want pizza too! Thanks for being on the show, Barnaby, hope you'll come and chat with us again. Oh, you too, Wild Tiger!" the DJ hurried to close the show.

* * *

"This pancetta stuff is really good!" Kotetsu said through mouthfuls.

"I still can't believe that you called into one of my interviews like that." Barnaby scowled at him. He was entertaining notion of revenge, but Kotetsu almost never got any interviews and when he did, they were with Barnaby. "And this pizza of yours... I don't know how to describe it. Avocado sauce and sausage? With mayo?"

"What's wrong with mayo?" Kotetsu took another bite of the pizza, using his free hand to change the channel on his medium-sized tv. "Hey, look, Sky High is on the news."

"Nothing's wrong with mayo, but I'm sure you're not supposed to be putting it on everything you eat." Barnaby hesitantly nibbled his slice of Kotetsu's pizza. "Your sense of taste is astounding...is this broccoli?"

"It sort of grows on you after a while. Like a certain bunny rabbit once did." Kotetsu gave him a smug look.

Barnaby chucked a Mr. Legend throw pillow at him.

* * *

Little bit of trivia: You can order a Tiger, Barnaby or Fire Emblem themed pizza at Domino's in Japan. And yes, you can get a half-and half. And yes, Kotetsu's has mayonnaise on it.

-panzerkatzen


	6. Perspective

First of all, thanks for the wonderful reviews!

This is a bit of a breather chapter to give the Kotetsu and Barnaby in my head a bit of a rest. I also thought that it would be interesting to work in the other heroes instead of just mentioning them in passing.

I'm already working on the next chapter. Meanwhile, please enjoy some good ol' fashioned girls talk.

-panzerkatzen

* * *

6 - Perspective

* * *

They loved him. Barnaby, that is. Wild Tiger was nowhere near as popular, despite being his partner, but he had a cult following that consisted of longtime Tiger fans and of people that had personal experiences with the hero.

Wild Tiger was known for destroying elements of the public, but also for going beyond the call of duty. One blog even tried to catalog all the little things that he did for the people of Sternbild, when not in the hero suit. There was one incident where he'd sprinted through Sternbild traffic with a woman in labor on his back, and another when he helped a little kid stuck up a tree.

Karina Lyle read through the blog, raising her eyebrows at some stories and almost feeling sorry for Tiger in the others. He had been consistently unpopular for the past few years, and while it could be argued that Barnaby had saved his career, it seemed like it had no effect on his personal code of honor to help people in need. The blog posts dated all the way back to several years after Tiger's debut, when blogging and social networking really started to take off.

"This looks interesting. "Wild Tiger changes man's tire, lifts pickup with one hand." Tsk, that man really can't ignore the plight of the people, can he?" Nathan mused, tapping on a tablet with a manicured hand.

"We should be looking at our own fanblogs, not Tiger and Barnaby's." Karina frowned, self consciously looking at her own nails. One of them was chipped slightly from where she'd accidentally snagged a false nail on some concrete.

"True, but all of yours are about your music and your body. All things your publicity takes care of for you. And mine are predictable. Fire Emblem's fashion advice, Business Insider : Nathan Seymour, On Fire!, Glamapalooza Featuring Fire Emblem..." Nathan smiled at his own fanblogs. "They paint a pretty picture, but there's not much room for **entertainment**. Here we have pictures of.. me! Here's an LGBT rights discussion. Here's a NEXT rights discussion. All so very important. But nowhere near as interesting as.."

Nathan pulled up a page on his tablet. "..this! See, honey, THIS is the sort of thing that proves you have fans!"

"_Pizza isn't the only thing I like mayonnaise on.. _Nathan, this isn't about.." Karina began, pausing as her eyes scanned the page. "...oh. OH."

"Hm? What about pizza? And why are your cheeks red?" Pao Lin scooted over to her from the other end of the room, craning her neck to get a better look.

"It's nothing, Pao Lin!" Karina yanked away the tablet, handing it back to Nathan. "Nathan, I have trouble enough trying to ignore all the smut on the internet about ME, and here you go showing me stuff about Ko-" she caught herself. "I mean, about Wild Tiger and Barnaby!"

"And here I'd thought you'd appreciate that." Nathan smirked, dusting off his tablet in an exaggerated fashion. "My point is that although we heroes do work as a team, Tiger and Barnaby are the only ones marketed explicitly as a duo. Which eventually results in Tiger being popular because of our handsome little blonde, but also results in general interest in the pair skyrocketing, and more fan activity as evidenced by the smut and the blogs."

Karina leaned on the chaise, sighing. "What do you want me to do? Find another ice powered NEXT and form an idol unit? Host a season of The NEXT Factor and sign the winner up to be my sidekick?"

"That sounds cool! I could hold a martial arts tournament!" Pao Lin hopped onto Nathan's coffee table and went into some combat stances.

"Knock over any of the glassware and you're toast, little lightning bug." Nathan glowered.

"Don't worry, my balance is really good!" Pao Lin did a flip, landing on one of her hands and balancing on it over the table.

"Oh I can't bear to watch, not the Murano!" Nathan shielded his eyes dramatically, despite Pao Lin having knocked nothing over. (She was highly unlikely to break anything. Pao Lin had one of the cleanest damage records among all of the heroes, topping even Sky High.)

"Maybe we should form a group together then. For crimefighting, at least." Karina mused.

"We don't work very well thematically, honey. We'd need a costume change at the very minimum. They completely made over Tiger from the feet up when they signed him over to Apollon Media, remember?" Nathan pointed out. "I COULD design something, but we'd need to work something out with your sponsors."

Pao Lin dismounted cleanly from the coffee table and sat next to it, holding a tablet of her own. "I like my costume though.."

"Well yours works pretty well with Origami Cyclone. All oriental themed and everything." Karina stretched, her shapely legs not lost on either Nathan or Pao Lin.

"Origami has his own appeal though. His online fanbase is pretty interesting. You know, they set up an Easter egg hunt just for him, and he had to find a bunch of eggs hidden around Sternbild but he found them all somehow?" Nathan opened a hero blog and showed it to the two girls. "He might be too busy keeping his image up to work on being a team with anybody."

"Nathan, he personally runs all of the Origami Cyclone social media profiles." Karina pointed to the page header, which proclaimed "Origami Cyclone : Sternbild's Vigilant Shadow" in a bold, Asian calligraphic font. Karina thought it rather tacky.

"Don't you? I have a gazillion followers on my fashion blog." Nathan smiled at his homepage. He'd designed it himself. "And I do believe I'm not the only one."

"I do too! I take pictures of all the food I eat. And I post videos of my workout regime!" Pao Lin showed them a video channel featuring the feisty young hero wearing her green wig, doing roundhouse kicks with her trainer.

Nathan brought up the Dragon Kid food blog on his tablet. He raised his eyebrows. "Honey, that is a LOT of food!"

"In between photo shoots and recording sessions I don't have as much time." Karina stretched. "Everyone keeps forgetting that I make as many public appearances as Barnaby does, and almost all of mine have to be choreographed."

"It wouldn't hurt to make a few posts yourself though. You're in high school, right? I heard you high school girls are really good at the whole blogging thing." Pao Lin crawled onto the chaise and lay her chin on one of Karina's creamy white thighs, kicking her legs into the air. "You probably chat about boys all the time."

"Oh you are at that very tender age, aren't you?" Nathan shot her a smirk. "I remember high school, it was all boys and clothes for me."

Karina visualized going shopping with Kotetsu for a moment, then dismissed the thought. "Maybe a fashion blog wouldn't be so bad."

"If you want I can help you promote yours via mine." Nathan volunteered, looking through some more blogs. "Oh. I didn't know Wild Tiger ran a fashion blog."

"He what?" Karina got up with a start, nearly knocking Pao Lin off the chaise.

Nathan held the tablet several inches from his face. "Hmm. Oh, it's not really a fashion blog. Those are some really nice shoes though, Tiger!" His eyelids fluttered. "It looks more like a day to day thing, but a lot of the posts involve Barnaby."

Pao Lin pouted at Karina, then bounced over to where Nathan was sitting and took a look. "This one says "Barnaby enjoying a glass of champagne. He recommended a good vintage to share. We're gonna go look for some more later."... The next few ones are about them having lunch and another one is about _ojisan_ teasing Barnaby at work.. This one has fried rice recipes. I didn't know Barnaby could make fried rice!"

"Looking at this, you get the idea that they're practically married but don't know it yet. And look at the reviews it's getting on Hero Watch! "Tiger and Bunny in Sternbild is the next top social media sensation. It's the ultimate blog that takes you right into their daily lives.." Hmm." Nathan looked thoughtful. "Maybe I should start one of these with Rock Bison."

Karina was looking at the blog on her own tablet, and her cheeks were pink with envy. Not only were the two men more popular than her, but on the internet no less! (And they could cook! Karina was almost as bad as Barnaby in the kitchen.)

"I'll show them! Nathan, what would be a good blog title?" Karina tapped away on her tablet with a determined look.

"For you? I'm not sure, honey. Into the Ice? No, that sounds like a documentary title." Nathan seemed amused.

"What's it going to be about?" Pao Lin had conjured up a bag of potato chips out of nowhere and had begun to munch on them. "Crimefighting? Beauty tips?"

"Love problems." Karina smiled. "Solving them. And about mine too."

"Ooh. Good one. I should have thought of that sooner." Nathan straightened up, crossing his arms. "If you ever run out of advice, big sis Fire Emblem can give you a few pointers."

"I'll keep that in mind, but relationships are something that a high school girl should be good at, right?" Karina had already set up the blog and was starting on her first post.

"Not all high school girls are infatuated with veteran heroes twice their age, hon." The corners of Nathan's mouth turned up.

"Oh shut it, you." Karina stuck her nose up at him.

* * *

"Hm? Bunny, look. Blue Rose is running a romantic advice blog."

"So? What does it matter to me if she does?" Barnaby was sitting in his solitary chair, watching the news while munching on popcorn.

Kotetsu looked thoughtful. "You're single. And I think you'll need all the help you can get. Even if you are the most eligible man in Sternbild."

"A high school girl is the last person I would take romantic advice from." Barnaby's brow furrowed. He'd been pestered by half the girls in school back when he was still studying, but never approached by the one girl he'd had an eye out for, and it mildly irritated him.

"I dunno, high school girls aren't so bad at it. If you asked me, it's high school boys that suck at the whole romance thing." Kotetsu chuckled, remembering his high school days with Tomoe. (Tomoe chased him around a lot. Not because she was in love with him or anything, but because Kotetsu tended to cause her a lot of trouble. He'd already liked her, but he hadn't realized it at the time.)

Barnaby turned to face him and raised an eyebrow.

"I'm serious. Check it out, at least." Kotetsu laughed out loud at the sight of his partner looking thus befuddled.

"If you insist." Barnaby grabbed the remote, and a browser window appeared at the corner of his huge tv screen. He busied himself with the blog as the sports news came on.

Kotetsu took a picture of the spectacle unfolding in the living room. He'd upload it later. "I'll bet Karina will get a kick out of this." He snickered to himself.

"This is terrible. Why flirt if plain old talking will get the job done faster?" Barnaby shook his head. "This is terrible advice. And what's all of this stuff about letting the guy pay for everything? You should split the bill no matter when.."

"Yeap." Kotetsu put away his phone and scratched his head. "Mature as all hell, but still horrible at romance. That's Bunny, all right."

"What was that?" Barnaby asked, eyes still trained to the browser window.

"Nothing~" Kotetsu spun around, whistling.


	7. Facsimile

7 - Facsimile

* * *

Barnaby examined the little figurine on the table. It wasn't his exact likeness, but it didn't have to be. It unnerved him slightly that these were going to be mass produced.

"This small one will be released in a set along with figures of the other heroes. You'll actually have two, one in your hero suit and one in casual wear. That latter one will be a secret hidden one to get people collecting them." Lloyds put a small box on the table. "Collectible figures are in vogue now, and we've been looking to cash in on them for some time. We've been working with Helperides Finance and several well-known manufacturers to produce these."

Kotetsu was already playing with his. "These look pretty good! Look at the detail, Bunny! You can even see the little letters of the sponsor logos!"

Barnaby took hold of his by the head and turned it around. "Was this really the best idea? Couldn't you have gone for me in my hero suit, just not wearing the helmet?"

"We did some testing in focus groups and they preferred you in casual wear over that one." Lloyds consulted some papers. "We did try other options. Your prototype suit didn't receive a lot of attention. Neither did your black suit. I think you wouldn't have wanted that one."

Barnaby leaned back onto the couch, crossing his legs. He looked uncomfortable. "Didn't anyone notice that it's.. different? Everyone else is in a hero suit. I'm in a leather jacket."

"You do have a point. I'll let them know." Lloyds took the figures from both heroes (Kotetsu parting with his rather regretfully) and put them back into their boxes. "Next up, we'll be needing the two of you to record some sounds clips for Heroes of Sternbild. If you're not familiar with it, it's a-"

"-social game." Barnaby groaned.

"Oh, have you finished the suit yet?" Kotetsu asked.

"I'm still missing an arm and the Good Luck Mode leg. And I ended up completing Lunatic's gear too..." They had added the Good Luck Mode leg about a week ago. Kotetsu had gotten his own by using credits he'd saved up. Barnaby needed to save up points again to get his...

"Oh good, you ARE familiar with it. They're adding a new combat mode in the next few months, and they'll be getting voice clips for all of the heroes." Lloyds handed them some sample dialogue.

"Justice never sleeps in Sternbild!" Kotetsu was energetic.

Barnaby browsed through the lines with disdain. One or two were phrases he used regularly. Some lines were outright dialog, and it seemed like he would be the one voicing the tutorial level.

"Is this necessary? We're already lending our names and likenesses to the game." He looked up from the script.

"What's so bad about it, Bunny? It's a game about us heroes. Having us heroes doing the sound effects would be pretty awesome! Like when I charge into battle I can go BAM! Haaaa-! And then I'll go BOOM!" Kotetsu very gamely stood up and started punching thin air.

Barnaby sank into his chair. At times like this he had to wonder how childish his partner could be, but there was a bit of enjoyment seeing him all fired up like this. Not too long ago he had frowned upon these little episodes of Kotetsu, and he had grown to appreciate them.

"Nothing's bad about it." He breathed deeply. "I'm just not used to this whole hero merchandising thing yet."

Barnaby understood that being a hero came with a set of weights that included celebrity. His situation was particularly exacerbated by the fact that his identity was public. He had more interviews, public appearances, features and photo shoots than any other hero. He would be primped and styled to perfection, with Kotetsu often somewhere in the background idling, and he would have to sit still and pose for the cameras for what seemed like hours. He didn't mind those.

What unnerved him was all of the advertising and merchandise. He was okay with anything involving his hero suit, but it had given him a slight chill to see himself on a billboard one day. It had been after all the drama of Maverick and Ouroboros. He was in his car driving to work and there he was, larger than life in a tailored suit, avertising a clothing line. He'd see print ads of himself advertising cinnamon mints, of all things. (Kotetsu had done that one with him, but he was in his suit. He was touting the regular flavored green mints.) He'd see himself on tv speaking for a popular soda brand. Hell, he'd gone to the supermarket and found himself looking at cereal boxes with him on them.

The first time they had come out with action figures of the heroes, Barnaby had enjoyed it. They had been a collaboration between the major sponsor companies and S.H. Figuarts, one of Wild Tiger's sponsors. His own figure was very articulate and came with a separate Good Luck Mode leg. He and Kotetsu had shown theirs to Saito, who seemed a little proud to see them. He'd asked if he could have one of his and S.H. had been happy to give both him and Kotetsu a set each. Kotetsu had them all on display in his loft and had an extra Wild Tiger on his desk at work. Barnaby had purchased a Barnaby of his own to match. (Kotetsu would sometimes sit the two of them together in a little model of the Double Chaser that S.H. later started selling.)

Then they started selling merchandise of him outside of the hero suit. Barnaby was on lunchboxes, mugs, posters, notepads (of all things, something you wrote on and threw away afterwards!), lanyards, button pins, wall scrolls and t-shirts. Barnaby could not comprehend why anyone wanted him on their t-shirts. Him in his suit, yes. Him in civvies, no. Nobody wanted a t-shirt of Tony Stark, it was always one of Iron Man. But there seemed to be a market for Barnaby Brooks Jr., dashing blonde, and it always seemed hot on the heels of the market for Barnaby Brooks Jr., hero of Sternbild.

One odd experience had was when he'd endorsed makeup. They'd asked him to take off his top for photos of him with his shoulders exposed. Kotetsu had sniggered all throughout the photo shoot, confiding in him later that they'd made him up to look like a woman. Barnaby had inspected the photos later on and found that while he still very much looked like a man, the photos of him were on the more feminine side of androgynous. He had been assured that the makeup he was selling was for unisex use, but it was plain to him that the company was trying to cater to women, and though Barnaby could not really fault them for this, it still did not sit well with him. He was later told that his makeup flew off the shelves afterwards.

Funnily enough, Barnaby discovered that Kotetsu had bought some makeup for himself. "This brand makes their stuff with SPF. It's good for when you're running around in the sun a lot. I used it all the time back when I was still at Top Mag. Didn't want the top half of my face lighter than the bottom." he had explained. Barnaby had very self consciously bought some himself later that week. He didn't really like that his face was on everything but if it was going to be that way then he might as well take care of it.

"Bunny? You okay?" Kotetsu waved his hand in front of the blonde's face. "You spaced out for a second there."

"Oh. Sorry." Barnaby blinked a few times. "Yeah. The lines are a bit cheesy but they're okay."

"If you have any problems with the script I could forward them for you." Lloyds suggested, retrieving the papers and looking them over one more time.

"No, it's all right. It's for the game." Barnaby glanced at Kotetsu for a moment. "How do you get used to this?"

Kotetsu's eyebrows raised. He looked thoughtful. "Depends on how you look at it. When I see stuff like this it reminds me that I'm a hero and that people see me as one, and that means a lot to me."

Barnaby thought it was a good explanation and nodded.

"One more thing." Lloyds turned to them. "We'll be needing you to record more voice clips after the ones for Heroes of Sternbild. Softbank is doing a set of hero promotions and they'll be offering sound clips for mobile use for download."

Both heroes looked up at him. "What are they for?" Barnaby asked hesitantly.

"I'm not sure, but the company had this tagline for it. "Have your favorite hero on your phone!" or something like it." Lloyds handed them a pamphlet.

Kotetsu read it over Barnaby's shoulder. "Alert tones. You have mail! Kinda like that?"

Barnaby's brow furrowed. "No, there's stuff like "Your batteries are low." and "Today's weather is sunny."... It looks more like a personal assistant app. But don't mobile phones already have apps like these? Who would need this?"

"There's demand for it." Lloyds shrugged.

"There's always demand for it." Barnaby sighed.

* * *

They do make S.H. Figuarts of all the heroes. I own a lot of them, and I have the H-01 and Darkness Bunny ones. They look really cool.

There's also a Tiger and Bunny app that only works if your phone is set to a Japanese locale. I think it lets you go on dates with Kotetsu and Barnaby. I wanted to try using it but I'm not skilled enough to hack my phone...

This chapter was a bit shorter but I hope that's okay.

-panzerkatzen


	8. Interior

I'll be updating less frequently as I'm back at school.

-panzerkatzen

* * *

8 - Interior

* * *

The first thing Barnaby bought with his hero paycheck was a food processor. His lifestyle had the time had given him little free time, so he'd tried to incorporate as many conveniences as he could into his home and kitchen. For a time he'd eaten mostly salads and grilled anything he could find fresh at the supermarket. Once the mess with Jake had been cleared up, he'd had more time, and had subsequently bought more kitchen appliances. He had a microwave but he only used it for reheating takeout.

Next were the glassware and the cutlery. Barnaby did not often have friends at home (except Kotetsu, who in the beginning was a nuisance) so he'd opted for simple, minimalist stainless steel forks and knives. His crockery was all tempered glass with some older casserole dishes from when he was living with Samantha. His plates were few and plain, but his wineglasses were very fine and had seen constant use. After he'd started cooking more at home, he bought a set of ten different steel knives for different purposes, even though in practice he hadn't used more than three in the kitchen at once.

Barnaby had not been very happy with the pillows that came with his apartment so right after the food processor he promptly bought some pricey memory foam pillows and a silk bedset and blankets. They had seen him through restless and tired nights and he considered them a good investment. On nights when Kotetsu ended up staying over he'd very reluctantly lend him one of them and the older hero would sometimes bug him to show him where to buy them.

Barnaby's clothes were mostly designer brand. His parents had bought him designer clothing when he was young, and they had served him well. He had been more frugal once in his teens, choosing more mainstream labels, but he found that he ended up having to go shopping more frequently as they wore out very quickly. He had several leather jackets, leather being a fabric that he had come to regard as dependable, two suits and some casual attire that rarely strayed far from his closet. He was the type to buy shirts in multiples because he preferred practicality to variety. The only clothes in his wardrobe that he hadn't purchased himself were some flannel pyjamas in a very warm shade of scarlet that Nathan had given him for his birthday, some bunny slippers given to him as a joke by Kotetsu (which were exceedingly comfy beyond all expectations but Barnaby would never admit it) and a Hero Tv shirt he'd worn once at an event.

There wasn't much furniture in his apartment. Barnaby lived alone and had not expected to have to entertain many guests so he had only the one chair in his living room. The Apollon Media crew hadn't mentioned it but Kotetsu had given him a funny look when he first saw the room. Barnaby had never bothered to mention to either that the chair itself was worth the price of a leather sofa set and had been ergonomically and orthopedically designed. It explained why Kotetsu never woke up with cramps after a night in the chair, although the old man never seemed to notice.

Kotetsu's own appliances and furniture made for a stark contrast to the young bachelor's. Most of his electronics were a bit older but all of them visually lent to the room, with an art deco themed tape and record player and a beautiful stained wood cabinet for his smaller television. He had a matching bookcase with a shelf for family pictures, for hero encyclopedias and memorabilia, a photo album from Kaede chronicling their (but mostly Barnaby's) hero exploits and several old magazines. His sofa set was lumpy with the occasional stubborn wine stain but it was comfortable at the best of times and Barnaby remembered waking up in it at least once whenever a mission would carry him a little far from home and he was too tired to complain about Kotetsu insisting he crash at his place for a change.

His fridge was beat up and almost always had some form of leftovers, takeout or ice cream in it, and his wine rack was always stocked with whatever vintages of the month held his or Barnaby's fancy, and the odd bottle of sake or shochu. Kotetsu's kitchen countertop was half the size of Barnaby's but had seen much more use, and had a few dings where the older hero had had a little too much fun with the chopping board. He had a set of skillets (restaurant grade stainless steel, Barnaby had noticed) that had seen a lot of love over the years, a rarely used oven, and a microwave whose numbers were already half rubbed out over years of button presses. Kotetsu didn't have a food processor but he did have a 7-knife set that looked like they were sharpened and used regularly.

Barnaby had never so much as touched Kotetsu's bed but he'd seen it at least once or twice on rare occasions that Kotetsu misplaced something and the pair went looking all over the place for it. He'd gone up to the loft and seen the large bed and poofy comforter set, roomy even for two people, with one side looking lumpy and very well used and the other looking less worn. It had taken a moment at first for him to register the reason why the bed had been used lopsidedly but when it occurred to him, Barnaby kept a respectful distance from it. He'd looked under it for a moment, finding dust bunnies, bedroom slippers and some beat up cardboard boxes ("Not here!", he'd yelled.).

What Barnaby liked and hated about Kotetsu's house was the perpetual state of mess it was in compared to his own. It smelled lightly of alcohol when Kotetsu forgot to use the air spray but it wasn't the smell of drunkenness. There would be used clothes strewn around the house, though hats were always on the rack and coats hung. There would be plates in the sink with the occasional pan, despite Kotetsu owning a small diswasher. "I never figured out how to use it. Tomoe wanted one." he'd shrugged. Despite the disorganized kitchen there was never a smell of rot and the garbage was taken out religiously. Wine bottles would line the living room on months when Kotetsu was especially busy but Barnaby had noticed that they seemed to be sorted somehow. He'd figured that Kotetsu was a mess on day one but had not expected the degree of elegant chaos that the man left in his wake.

Barnaby's favorite aspect of Kotetsu's house had to be the skylight though. In the mornings and early afternoons the sun would come streaming in, giving the place a lovely warm glow. He'd found this out the hard way one morning when he'd woken up on the couch from an all-nighter putting out several fires in the port district on Bronze stage. It shot straight into his eyes and he'd grabbed his jacket and threw it over his head to cover it, but he'd already woken up well and good and the smell of bacon and chahan and brewed coffee from Kotetsu's beat up coffeemaker had been very, very tempting.

He'd eaten his fill and was drinking his coffee au Kotetsu (a bold blend laced with a shot of kahlua and stirred with a white chocolate Kit Kat), looking up at the skylight as Kotetsu read the morning paper across him. You could see none of the tall buildings of Sternbild through the skylight, but all of the blue and cloudy sky on the best days. It gave him a different feeling from when he'd spend evenings with a glass of white wine just watching the night in Sternbild go by through his huge apartment window. It was quiet too, not quite like the quiet of his apartment.

"Has it always been this quiet?" he'd asked, halfway through his coffee and with three bites out of his Kit Kat.

Kotetsu turned the page of his paper, but was looking at the young hero. "Not always. But it's a good sort of quiet. It's the kind you can sleep to at night."

Barnaby sipped his coffee thoughtfully.


	9. Recovery

9 - Recovery

* * *

"Bunny, where do you keep your spices?" Kotetsu's voice rang out from the kitchen.

"They're in a cupboard next to where i keep my pans." Barnaby croaked. He was half irritated that he couldn't take care of himself in this state, and half worried that Kotetsu would make him sicker with his cooking.

Kotetsu audibly rummaged through the cabinets and produced several small glass jars of spices that he put onto the countertop with a clink.

Barnaby had been sick for three days. One day he had just started coughing uncontrollably at his desk, and Lloyds' secretary had given him some medicine for that. It helped a bit until he started having cold sweats and stomach pains right after lunch (he knew he shouldn't have taken the spicy chicken satay!). He had been sent straight home and had been subsisting on Chinese takeout and canned soup until Kotetsu caught wind of it and headed there with a wok.

The blonde was currently blanketed his solitary chair with some cough syrup and some Asian tea in a bottle that Kotetsu had brought him. He was attempting to distract himself with the news and the history channel as his partner made noises in the kitchen.

"Is this all the chicken you have?" Kotetsu fished a block of ice barely resembling meat from the freezer.

"Yeah." Barnaby made a sputtering noise. "That was from a month ago."

Kotetsu scrutinized the meat. "It's all the bony bits.. hm. Chicken soup it is then. Good thing I brought some meat from the butcher. Up for some tenderloin tips, Bunny?"

"I didn't-" Barnaby coughed, then took a swig of the tea. It tasted like almonds and honey and he felt great relief as it went down his throat. "I didn't know you could make tenderloin tips."

"Antonio taught me a while back when we used to go out drinking at each other's places. He makes some kickass tapas."

Kotetsu dunked the chicken into a bowl of lukewarm water and started going at it with his hands. In a few minutes he'd gotten most of the icy bits off and was now chopping it with Barnaby's ill-used meat cleaver.

"Mind if I use up some of your garlic?" He held up two entire cloves.

Barnaby sat up a bit straight in his chair. "What soup uses up that much garlic?"

"An Asian one." Kotetsu replied matter-of-factly, holding up a bag of vegetables. "Might not be the sort of chicken soup you're used to, but this'll get you going faster than any of those medicines you've been eating like candy."

Barnaby guiltily glanced at his wastebasket in the corner, full of used up pill sheets and sports drinks. "Usually I recover quickly."

"Usually isn't after a week of four hero alerts involving a collapsed building and a criminal NEXT, I think."

"Since when were you the mature one?" Barnaby grumbled.

"Since I had to bring you home delirious and coughing your insides out." Kotetsu jabbed a chopping knife in his general direction.

Barnaby snuggled into his chair, sleepy from the pills and the aromatic almond tea. The history channel was making noises about some Incan ruins in the background, and the sound of Kotetsu busying about in the kitchen somehow soothed him. It wasn't that he wanted Kotetsu to take care of him. It was that there was usually nobody to take care of it at all.

He remembered a far off time when he'd had a fever and had to be sent home from preschool. Samantha had watched him for a little bit, and seemingly out of nowhere had come his mother with some medicine and a balm for his cough. He remembered the soft tones of his mother singing him to sleep and rubbing his back and head rhythmically. Then his father would come in on his other side and hold him gently and he would wake up the next day fresh as a daisy with both parents having fallen asleep beside him.

Samantha made him chicken soup when he was older, and made sure he was comfortable. She never came close to his parents, but Barnaby remembered the years with her fondly. He rarely got sick under her watchful eye and she always managed to keep him well nourished under the allowance they were given by Maverick. Barnaby begrudgingly admitted to himself that the man had taken very good care of them despite it being in his own interests to do so.

He watched Kotetsu work out of the corner of his eye. Kotetsu had discarded his hat somewhere and was bringing Barnaby's only pot to a boil, tossing in some spices and a vegetable that he didn't immediately recognize and both cloves of garlic straight in. He had taken apart a third and was murdering them on the chopping board, the meat marinating in a bowl next to him.

Kotetsu's expression was far different from when he was usually cooking. Instead of his typical carefree demeanor, he was working with a determination that Barnaby had only seen when the man had his hero suit on and was doing his job.

"You okay there, Bunny? How is the tea working for you?"

"What is this stuff anyway?" Barnaby took some more sips.

"Oolong with almond extract and some honey. Mom gets it from a Chinese lady that runs an herbal medicine shop in Oriental Town. We drink some of that whenever we get a cough that rest and water can't immediately fix." Kotetsu finished up on the garlic and checked on the soup, then chucked in some roughly chopped chicken and what Barnaby assumed was some sort of leafy herb.

He turned back to the meat as he replaced the lid on the pot. "Tomoe taught me how to make this soup. There was one week when a huge blizzard hit Sternbild and I had to stay out for almost the entire week helping people get supplies and keeping the roads open. The next week I couldn't even get out of bed and my head hurt like a ton of bricks landed on me, but after a few days of the stuff I was on my feet faster than you can say Origami Cyclone."

Kotetsu poked at the marinating meat, sprinkled the garlic on top of it, poured it all into a ziploc bag and started whacking it with Barnaby's wooden soup spoon. Barnaby gave him an odd look.

"This speeds up the marinate and tenderizes it too. Sorta crude, but it works. Anyway, Tomoe taught me how to make it in case she got too sick to make some for Kaede, and after I sent the recipe to mom she added a few stuff for potency. See this?"

Kotetsu picked up an object resembling a yellowish tree branch. "Ginger. Does wonders for anything hitting the throat and sinuses. Ginger tea has a bit of a kick though so it's usually not for people that aren't used to it."

Barnaby stared at the vegetable. "Ginger doesn't look like that."

"Asian ginger does. Paired with this other stuff-" Kotetsu held up a green fruitlike thing and a handful of watercress and Chinese cabbage. "-it makes for a nutritious and hearty meal."

He grinned as the pot began to boil. "Oops! Time to throw in the veggies."

"So you cooked for Kaede?" Barnaby sniffled and reached for a tissue. He ended up knocking over the box and tried to grab at it without leaving the snugness of his blanket, but he was met with little success.

"Sometimes, when I'm home. Once Tomoe and Kaede were both down with the flu, I took the week off to take care of them. Kaede was up and happy pretty quickly but Tomoe took a little longer..." Kotetsu stirred the pot, lookig a bit distant. "It was one of the warning signs, but we didn't realize it until later."

Barnaby paused to comprehend the weight of what he'd heard and promptly fell out of his chair in another attempt to reach the tissue.

Kotetsu heard the thump and craned his head. "You really are sick, arent'cha?"

"Gee, I hadn't realized." Barnaby swept some curls out of his face and grabbed the tissue box with a vengeance.

"Wait for a bit, okay? Do you want rice or bread with the tips?" Kotetsu looked worried.

Barnaby mumbled incoherently as he pulled himself back into his chair. He was wearing red pyjama bottoms but had on one of his usual black shirts. He grabbed the blanket and wrapped it around himself, then spun himself into a little cocoon in his chair with just his head and blonde curls sticking out at the top.

"Or I could just make some mashed potato if you're not up to it?"

A few of the curls on Barnaby's head bounced in assent.

* * *

Barnaby dreamt of his old house. It was musty, and smelled like vanilla. He was curled up in his old bed, wiggling his feet under the covers and his head on a fluffy pillow. The wind was blowing outside, rustling the leaves of the trees lining the quiet street, and a soft piano melody floated down from the floor below him.

The melody was unfamiliar, but soothing. It reminded him of the more lighthearted operas he had seen, with light notes reminiscent of spring, occasionally launching into a more determined staccatto. He looked out the window again, only to find that the scenery had changed and that instead of the window, he was looking at the afternoon sky of Sternbild.

The melody changed to a warm humming. Barnaby recognized it as one of Blue Rose's. Not the ones that she recorded - it was one of the jazzy songs she regularly sang at the lounge.

Barnaby woke up to the smell of cooking meat and buttery potatoes. He stuck his head out of the blanket and found Kotetsu humming with his head propped up on his elbows watching a documentary about squirrels. Kotetsu had poured part of the soup into a large glass casserole that Barnaby was only vaguely aware of owning, and two plates had been laid out with a serving of tenderloin each.

"Had a good nap?" Kotetsu had a spoon in his mouth and a bit of mashed potato on his chin. "This is kind of lumpy though... Still want some?"

Barnaby tried stretching, but his arms wound into the blanket instead and he found himself stuck. He frowned and started grumbling, as Kotetsu began laughing.

"If lil' Bunny's having trouble then I can just go over there and feed you." he chuckled.

"I'm old enough to do that myself, thank you very much." Barnaby glared at him, his glasses askew.

"Then get over here and come eat." Kotetsu took a spoonful of mashed potato and nudged the large bowl in his direction.

Barnaby kicked the blanket off of himself and trudged to the counter. The chicken soup was a remarkably clear golden broth with the vegetables swimming about in it. The mashed potatoes were indeed lumpy but it looked like Kotetsu had given it a few minutes in the oven and the edges were brown and crispy looking.

The tenderloin looked nearly burnt but smelled divine. Barnaby grabbed a fork, shoveled some potato onto his plate and dug in.

The blonde's eyes lit up in surprise. It was delicious! It looked grossly overseasoned, but the flavor went through his sick-numbed tastebuds and the buttery-crispy mashed potato sent warm feelings through his stomach.

"Need a bowl for the soup, Bunny?" Kotetsu glanced at him for a second, saw the look on his face, and immediately grabbed his phone to take a picture. Barnaby couldn't care less. This was better food than he'd had in days. Chinese takeout could suck it.

"Yesh prief." Barnaby replied between mouthfuls.

"Man you are a hell of a sight right now." Kotetsu laughed heartily. "If you want some beer to wash that down, I left some bottles of pale pilsen in the freezer."

He reached over to where Barnaby's bowls were stacked and grabbed one, ladling some chicken and broth in.

"There you go. I made plenty so you can have some later for dinner." Kotetsu stuck a spoon into the mashed potoes and plopped them onto his plate.

Barnaby took a sip of the soup. It was very, very fragrant and after a few spoonfuls he felt his nostrils clearing slowly - the spices were doing their job. The chicken was bony but cooked tender and lent to the flavor of the broth. The garlic had been boiled to a squishy salty softness. It wasn't the soup he was used to Samantha making for him, but it was good, and he ate plenty.

The two sat quietly munching their late lunch. On the huge television, a squirrel was sniffing at some nuts on a branch.

"Fank you." Barnaby said with his mouth half full.

"You're welcome. Did you know that you get a lot funnier when you're sick?" Kotetsu swished around the water in his glass.

"I twy not to wet peefle no." Barnaby replied.

"Best that you don't then." Kotetsu laughed.


	10. Sincerity

This one's a bit shorter than I anticipated... Will make up for it with the next one.

* * *

10 - Sincerity

* * *

It was Barnaby's birthday again, and as always he was showered with presents.

Keith had gotten him a birthday card and a 6-pack of cupcakes. Keith gave everyone birthday cards and cupcakes for their birthdays, and each person's cupcakes were different. Barnaby's cupcakes were reddish pink (red velvet, he suspected) and decorated with little mascarpone bunnies. Barnaby normally did not eat cupcakes and got plenty enough cake on his birthday, but he made sure to eat at least one within the week. The rest usually went to Kotetsu or Pao Lin, whichever one came by his apartment first.

Ivan would make something for Barnaby's birthday. The first present he had gotten for Barnaby was an intricate Japanese box puzzle that he had made using designs from the internet. This year's gift was a paper lantern-looking desk lamp with a design painted on it of a bunny making mochi. Barnaby admired the lamp but made a note to himself to remind people not to sendi him rabbit-themed gifts.

Antonio's gifts were somewhat on the generic side. They weren't very close, and rarely talked even when Kotetsu dragged them both to the bar after work. Still, Barnaby would receive a bottle of red wine with a handwritten greeting tied to the neck. Barnaby would send him good liquor in return on Antonio's birthday, asking Kotetsu to recommend a vintage. Barnaby was not aware that Kotetsu performed the same role for Antonio, and that the older hero found his position funny and at the same time convenient for recommending wines that he himself wanted to try, as both men would invite him over to sample some.

Pao Lin's gifts always involved food, although she never made any herself. Barnaby suspected that it was Pao Lin's assistant doing the gifting, as he usually received a gift certificate to places that were more known for their ambience than the deliciousness or the quantity of their food. Occasionally however, Pao Lin would ask him to practice with her and they would exchange moves. It impressed Barnaby that Pao Lin knew more about kicks than he did, and she would sometimes correct his stance.

Karina's presents were simple. Last year's was a nice necktie while this year's was a cd album of a play that had done well in Sternbild. Barnaby preferred operas to plays, but would sometimes watch any good plays that were in town. He'd mentioned this to her, and Karina would recommend a few plays every so often, citing a drama geek classmate as her reference. One time he had offered to bring her to see one, but she declined politely, saying it wasn't her thing. (Kaede had been free that week and Kotetsu had some work to take care of involving the minor league heroes, so she had been his play date instead.)

Barnaby thoroughly appreciated Nathan's presents. They were usually stationery. He'd received monogrammed stationery two or three years in a row, each one of an exquisite paper quality and design. Barnaby sometimes regretted having to use them, but had realized early on that they made for lovely autographs. Kotetsu had mentioned this to him a few months after he'd received his first pack, and within the week some of Barmaby's monogrammed autographs were floating around fan auction sites.

Lloyds usually got him something nice for his birthday, but it would almost always be something he didn't get to use regularly. This year's were cuff links in a Wild Tiger and Barnaby matching set. Lloyds discreetly told him that there was another pair waiting for Kotetsu to heap abuse on them.

Agnes was like Antonio in that she got him the same thing every year. In her case it was cologne. One difference was that she would often ask him for feedback. The first one she had given him had been a little too strong, and he'd let her know indiscreetly. The latest one was a very subtle musky scent, evoking forests.

Kotetsu's presents were... interesting. The second year of their partnership had also marked the first year in which the two exchanged birthday presents. Barnaby initially had no idea what sort of presents that Kotetsu would want, especially since he normally didn't act like a man his age, but he'd gotten him some nice dress shirts. (Barnaby had no idea what clothing size Kotetsu was - he'd resorted to peeking into Kotetsu's locker after a hero run.) Kotetsu had responded by giving Barnaby a rather nice red hoodie. (Barnaby did not own a hoodie prior to this one. He found himself wearing it on lazy days at home.)

The next year, Barnaby had mustered up some effort and had managed to outbid people on an online auction for an old Mr. Legend lunchbox to give to his partner. Kotetsu was ecstatic and responded later that year with a luxe journal and pen set. ("To replace that one that I broke a while ago. Ehehe.") Barnaby kept the pen at his desk and had even bought a kit to maintain it. He'd followed up with a gift from Kaede, a hand-crocheted scarf in dark pink, black and white. Barnaby had made sure to wear it during the office Christmas party, in which Kaede was invited.

This year though, it seems that Kotetsu had outdone himself. On his desk he'd found a leather case in the colors of his hero suit, and a meticulously sewn emblem of a bunny on the back. His tablet was already sitting inside. Barnaby picked up the tablet, case and all and admired it. The leather was smooth to the touh and looked so well crafted it had to have been custom made.

"Had to pull in some favors for that one." Kotetsu was at his desk, but he'd reached over their little divider to grab at one of the pink cupcakes from Keith. "Hope you like it! Got Kaede one too, it's got both our emblems on it."

Barnaby nibbled the mascarpone bunny off of his cupcake. "Maybe I should get you an actual tiger for your birthday next year"

"Only if you're feeding it too." he laughed.


End file.
